As Britain gradually starts to plan for life after lockdown and countries start to make plans to welcome back tourists, TUI has found that people are dreaming of their next holiday.
The number one travel company’s latest findings reveal just where the nation will be heading when travel restrictions are eventually lifted, and search and booking data gives insight into the latest emerging travel trends.
A survey of 2,000 adults revealed that two thirds say their attitude towards travelling has changed and the majority of them will be much more appreciative of being able to go on holiday in the future. Many of them want to return to familiar destinations, but more than 25% of Brits want to be more adventurous in their travel habits and discover new places.
The poll, part of TUI’s on-going customer research, probed which destinations people intend to visit when they can and the ‘lockdown holiday list’ reflects the company’s search and booking trends.
THE LOCKDOWN HOLIDAY LIST*
- Spain
- Greece
- Italy
- Florida
- The Caribbean
- Croatia
- Turkey
- Mexico
- Thailand
- Dubai
*The top ten destinations people intend to go on holiday to after lockdown
Searches on TUI’s website for ‘Summer 2021 holidays’ are seeing daily growth and the holiday company is finding long-haul destinations like Mexico, The Caribbean and Florida prove popular in search and bookings, plus Egypt and Cape Verde are returning favourites for winter sun. TUI also reports that all-inclusive holidays are performing well, but there is a notable increase in people searching for and booking self-catering and villa holidays as well. May and June 2021 are currently the most popular travel months and Greece, Turkey and Florida are currently the most booked destinations.
Possibly because they’ve been confined to seeing the same faces and places day in and day out, sightseeing is the thing they are most looking forward to (41%) when we can travel. They also want to eat authentic local cuisine (30%), swim in the sea (27%) and take in a stunning sunset (26%). City breaks promise to be the most popular types of post lockdown holidays with more than 30% of people interested in taking one. Beach getaways will be another popular type of holiday, with marginally more people opting for relaxing on a secluded beach off the beaten track vs social distancing in a buzzy beach resort (23% vs 17%). And wherever they choose to go, 16% of them say they will be doing it in five-star luxury style.
Lockdown restrictions and habits will also influence their choices, with 20% of them saying they will be more likely to book a holiday with those family and friends they have been unable to see and 1 in 5 (21%) getting destination inspiration from looking at old holiday snaps.
With almost three quarters (74.9%) saying they miss family and friends most during lockdown, and one in five (20%) more likely to book a holiday with the loved ones they’ve been unable to see, a rise in group bookings is expected as families look to reconnect. Adults aged 18-24 are missing familiar faces the most, while almost 1 in 10 (9%) of 25-34 year olds plan to take their whole family (across generations) with them for their first holiday after lockdown. In line with this trend, TUI have seen some possible early signs that multi-generation and big family holidays may be on the up as growth shows signs of bookings of more than 2 adults and 2 children vs last year.
With not being able to go on holiday being one of the top three things people are missing at the moment (38%), after seeing friends and family (75%) and eating out (47%), it’s not surprising 45% of us are hoping to take a holiday before summer 2021, with 15% wanting to get away as soon as possible and 16% by this winter.
To enable holidaymakers to keep dreaming about their next adventures, TUI has created an online ‘Lockdown Holiday List’ finder, using their expertise in travel to identify where people should think about travelling to next. The quiz asks a series of questions to find out personal preferences linked to food, travelling and lockdown activities to come up with a top three list of holidays to consider when we can travel again.
